1. Field of the Invention
The present invention is included in a technical field of, for example, semiconductor device fabrication.
Further, the present invention relates to a substrate processing apparatus for performing, for example, coating processing or developing processing of a resist solution to a substrate such as a semiconductor wafer or a glass substrate for a liquid crystal display.
2. Description of the Related Art
In a photoresist step in a process of semiconductor device fabrication, for example, a resist solution is applied to a front face of a semiconductor wafer (hereinafter, referred to as xe2x80x9cwaferxe2x80x9d) or the like to form a resist film, and a developing solution is supplied to the wafer which has been exposed in a pattern to thereby perform developing processing. In order to perform the above-described series of processing, a coating and developing processing apparatus has been conventionally used.
The coating and developing apparatus comprises various kinds of processing units such as a cooling processing unit for cooling a wafer W, a heat processing unit for heating the wafer W, a resist coating unit for coating the wafer W with a resist solution, a developing processing unit for performing developing processing for the wafer W, and the like. In order to make the whole coating and developing processing apparatus compact, a plurality of heat processing units and cooling processing units are multi-tiered to be arranged together with a transfer device on the whole, thereby attaining space saving of the coating and developing processing apparatus.
However, as the wafer W increases in diameter, all the processing units increase in size. Thus, it is necessary to arrange the processing units more compactly in order to save space.
However, when the heat processing unit increases in size, an amount of heat of the heat processing unit also increases. Accordingly, in the case where the heat processing unit is disposed near other processing units as one processing unit in the thermal processing unit group as before, there is a danger that temperature control can not be precisely performed in the other units for performing processing for the wafer at about room temperature, for example, the resist coating unit and the like. The instabilities in temperature control in these processing units result in a problem of a resist film varying in film thickness.
In the above coating and developing processing apparatus, since containers for storing processing solutions are placed outside, pipes for supplying the processing solutions to the coating unit and the developing unit are long. The solution in the pipe is drained at the time of maintenance or the like, but a resist solution and a developing solution suitable for michromachining of patterns are costly, and thus the long distance of the staying solution results in increased total cost. Meanwhile, it is necessary to precisely control an amount of the processing solution discharged from a nozzle, thereby sucking slightly the processing solution to thereby draw up the solution surface from the nozzle tip in order to prevent the solution from running from the nozzle onto the substrate after the discharge, and therefore the pressure loading of the processing solution needs to be finely adjusted. Therefore, supply control devices such as a metering pump and a suck valve are provided in the coating (developing) unit not in an external box in order not to be departed from the nozzle, but there is a problem that the supply control devices placed in each coating (developing) unit obstructs maintenance work.
Further, in the above-described coating and developing processing apparatus, since the wafer W which has been delivered to the processing station is transferred between the coating unit, the developing unit, and the shelf unit by wafer transfer means in the processing station, a great load imposed on the wafer transfer means, resulting in the present situation in which the number of the units in the processing station can not be greatly increased.
From the viewpoint of improvement in throughput, it is desirable to increase the numbers of the coating units and the developing units, and it has been also considered to add a new unit for forming an anti-reflection film prior to the application of the resist on the wafer, and the like. In this case, the number of the wafer transfer means needs to be increased in accordance with the increase in the number of the units. Moreover, in the above-described coating and developing processing apparatus, since the shelf unit is disposed near the coating unit or the developing unit, the coating unit is susceptible to heat influence from the heating section of the shelf unit. Accordingly, the temperature of the wafer W tends to change during the processing in each unit, bringing about a problem that ununiformity often happens in the processing because temperature affects on the processing. For this reason, it is desired to create a layout for improving throughput and performing processing uniformly.
An object of the present invention is to provide a substrate processing apparatus capable of precisely performing temperature control in a processing unit for performing solution processing for a substrate.
Further, another object of the present invention is to provide a substrate processing apparatus in which a pipe for a processing solution can be shortened.
Furthermore, still another object of the present invention is to provide a substrate processing apparatus which improves in throughput by decreasing a load on substrate transfer means.
In order to solve the above problems, a substrate processing apparatus of the present invention is characterized by comprising: a first processing unit group in which first processing units each for supplying a predetermined solution onto a substrate to thereby perform solution processing are multi-tiered; a second processing unit group in which second processing units each made by allowing a heating section for performing heat processing for the substrate and a cooling section for performing cooling processing for the substrate to adjoin to each other into one body are multi-tiered; and a transfer device for transferring the substrate between the first processing unit and the second processing unit, wherein the first processing unit group and the second processing unit group are arranged adjacent to each other while the cooling section out of the heating section and the cooling section in each second unit is positioned on the first processing unit group side.
In the present invention, the first processing unit group for performing solution processing for the substrate at about room temperature and the second processing unit group including the heating sections and the cooling sections are arranged such that the cooling sections are located on the first processing unit side, thereby reducing heat influence that the first processing unit group receives from the second processing unit group to a minimum. This makes it possible to perform precisely temperature control in the first processing unit group for performing processing for the substrate at about room temperature.
Further the substrate processing apparatus is characterized in that a clean air supply section for supplying clean air to the first processing unit group is provided, the clean air supply section exhausting gas from the bottom of the first processing unit group, circulating the exhausted gas, and blasting temperature regulated gas from the top of the first processing unit group, and further a passage for circulating the gas exhausted from the bottom of the first processing unit group to the top thereof is provided to divide an area in which the first processing unit group is disposed from an area in which the second processing unit group is disposed.
With such a configuration, the passage functions as heat insulation means between the area in which the first processing unit group is disposed and the area in which the second processing unit group is disposed. In addition, since gas circulates in the passage as the heat insulation means, heat never accumulates in the passage, with the results that the passage functions as very good heat insulation means. Consequently, the passage thus configured prevents heat influence from the second processing unit group to the first processing unit group, whereby temperature control in the first processing unit group for performing processing for the substrate at about room temperature can be very precisely performed.
Further, the apparatus is characterized in that a heat insulation wall is provided to divide an area in which the first processing unit group is disposed from an area in which the second processing unit group is disposed.
With the above configuration, the heat insulation wall prevents heat influence from the second processing unit group to the first processing unit group, whereby temperature control in the first processing unit group for performing processing for the substrate at about room temperature can be very precisely performed.
A substrate processing of the present invention is characterized by comprising: a first processing unit group in which first processing units each for supplying a predetermined solution onto a substrate to thereby perform solution processing are multi-tiered; a processing solution supply section, disposed adjacent to the first processing unit group, for supplying the predetermined solution to each first processing unit; a second processing unit group in which second processing units each made by allowing a heating section for performing heat processing for the substrate and a cooling section for performing cooling processing for the substrate to adjoin to each other into one body are multi-tiered; and a transfer device for transferring the substrate between the first processing unit and the second processing unit, wherein the processing solution supply section and the second processing unit group are arranged adjacent to each other while the cooling section out of the heating section and the cooling section in each second unit is positioned on the processing solution supply section side.
In the present invention, the processing solution supply section is disposed between the first processing unit group for performing solution processing for the substrate at about room temperature and the second processing unit group including the heating sections and the cooling sections, and further the cooling sections are disposed to locate on the processing solution supply section side. In other words, the cooling sections and the processing solution supply section stand between the first processing unit group and the heating sections, thereby reducing heat influence that the first processing unit group and the processing solution supply section receive from the second processing unit group to a minimum. This makes it possible to perform precisely temperature control in the first processing unit group for performing processing for the substrate at about room temperature, and further to perform easily temperature management of the processing solution to be supplied to the first processing unit group.
Further, the apparatus is characterized in that a clean air supply section for supplying clean air to the first processing unit group is provided, the clean air supply section exhausting gas from the bottom of the first processing unit group, circulating the exhausted gas, and blasting temperature regulated gas from the top of the first processing unit group, and further a passage for circulating the gas exhausted from the bottom of the first processing unit group to the top thereof is provided to divide an area in which the processing solution supply section is disposed from an area in which the second processing unit group is disposed.
With such a configuration, the passage functions as heat insulation means between the area in which the processing solution supply section is disposed and the area in which the second processing unit group is disposed. In addition, since gas circulates in the passage as the heat insulation means, heat never accumulates in the passage, with the results that the passage functions as very good heat insulation means. Consequently, the passage thus configured prevents heat influence from the second processing unit group to the first processing unit group and the processing solution supply section, whereby temperature control in the first processing unit group for performing processing for the substrate at about room temperature can be very precisely performed, and further temperature management of the processing solution can be easily performed.
Further, the apparatus is characterized in that a heat insulation wall is provided to divide an area in which the processing solution supply section is disposed from an area in which the second processing unit group is disposed.
With such a configuration, the insulation wall prevents heat influence from the second processing unit group to the first processing unit group and the processing solution supply section, whereby temperature control in the first processing unit group for performing processing for the substrate at about room temperature can be very precisely performed, and further temperature management of the processing solution can be easily performed.
A substrate processing apparatus of the present invention is characterized by comprising: a first processing unit group in which first processing units each for supplying a predetermined solution onto a substrate to thereby perform solution processing are multi-tiered; a second processing unit group in which second processing units each made by allowing a heating section for performing heat processing for the substrate and a cooling section for performing cooling processing for the substrate to adjoin to each other into one body are multi-tiered; and an aligner unit for performing exposure processing for the substrate to which the solution processing has been performed, wherein the substrate is caused to wait in the cooling section of the second processing unit before the substrate is carried into the aligner unit.
In the present invention, the cooling section of the second processing unit group can include a function of a waiting place for allowing the substrate before exposure to wait therein other than a function of performing cooling processing, and thus it is unnecessary to provide, for example, an extra cassette for holding the substrate before exposure.
A substrate processing apparatus according to the present invention is characterized by comprising:
a cassette station including a mounting section for mounting a substrate cassette housing a substrate, and delivery means for delivering the substrate to/from the substrate cassette mounted on the mounting section; and
a processing station connected to the cassette station for processing the substrate transferred by the delivery means,
the processing station including solution processing units, stacked in a plurality of tiers, each for performing processing by a processing solution for the substrate, transfer means for carrying the substrate into/out of these solution processing units, and a container housing section, in which containers each for storing the processing solution are housed, provided adjacent to the solution processing units or below the lowermost solution processing unit.
Such an invention needs a short pipe of the processing solution, and thus the amount of stay of costly processing solution is small, resulting in a reduction in cost.
The container housing section may house a processing solution supply control device provided on a pipe for supplying the processing solution from the container to the solution processing unit, thereby providing an advantage of good workability of maintenance. Further, it is suitable that a plurality of the multi-tiered solution processing units are arranged in a line in a lateral direction, and the container housing section is provided next to or below the solution processing units for every the multitiered solution processing units. Furthermore, a power device may be provided below the lowermost tier of the multi-tiered solution processing units and used for each solution processing unit.
The processing station includes, for example, a shelf unit in which units for performing heating processing and/or cooling processing are multi-tiered to perform pre-processing and/or post-processing for the processing in the solution processing units. Further, it is suitable that in the case in which the container housing section is provided next to the solution processing units, a fine adjustment cooling section for precisely cooling the substrate to a predetermined temperature after the substrate is cooled in the shelf unit is divided from a transfer area of the transfer means and disposed above or below the container housing section in an environment in which an atmospheric gas used in the solution processing unit flows.
The apparatus in which the shelf unit is provided may be configured as follows, and this case has an advantage that the dimension of the depth as viewed from the cassette station can be reduced.
a. A plurality of the substrate cassettes are arranged in an X-direction.
b. The processing station is configured such that blocks each including the transfer means, the multi-tiered solution processing units, and the shelf unit are connected in a Y-direction.
c. On the whole, a plurality of the multi-tiered solution processing units are arranged in a line in the Y-direction, a plurality of the shelf units are lined in the Y-direction, and the transfer means are disposed between the line of the shelf units and the line of the solution processing units.
d. In a block close to the cassette station, at least one tier in the shelf unit is configured as a delivery section for delivering the substrate between the delivery means and the transfer means, and the shelf unit is disposed diagonally with respect to the X-direction toward the cassette station as viewed from the transfer means.
e. In a block connected to the block close to the cassette station, the shelf unit is disposed in the X-direction as viewed from the transfer means.
A substrate processing apparatus of the present invention for the above is characterized by comprising: a cassette station including a mounting section for mounting a substrate cassette housing a substrate, and delivery means for delivering the substrate to/from the substrate cassette mounted on the mounting section; and a processing station connected to the cassette station for processing the substrate transferred by the delivery means,
the processing station including:
a coating processing section for applying a processing solution for the substrate; and
transfer means for delivering the substrate to/from the coating processing section,
wherein the delivery means of the cassette station delivers the substrate to/from the coating processing section of the processing station.
In such a configuration, the substrate can be delivered to/from the coating processing section of the processing station not only by the substrate transfer means but also the delivery means of the cassette station. This can reduce the load on the substrate transfer means, and correspondingly the coating processing section or the like can be added, resulting in improved throughput.
Further, the present invention is characterized by comprising: a cassette station including a mounting section for mounting a substrate cassette housing a substrate, and delivery means for delivering the substrate to/from the substrate cassette mounted on the mounting section; and a processing station connected to the cassette station for processing the substrate transferred by the delivery means,
the processing station including:
a first coating processing section, provided on the cassette station side, for applying a first processing solution for the substrate;
a second coating processing section, provided on the opposite side to the cassette station, for applying a second processing solution for the substrate;
a heating section, provided between the first and second coating sections, for heating the substrate;
first substrate transfer means, provided between the first coating processing section and the heating section, for transferring the substrate thereto; and
second substrate transfer means, provided between the second coating processing section and the heating section, for transferring the substrate thereto.
In such a configuration, the first coating processing section and the second coating processing section are provided on both sides of the heating sections with the heating sections and the substrate transfer means interposed in-between, and thus the first and second coating processing sections are separated from the heating sections, whereby the first and second coating processing sections become resistant to heat influence from the heating sections. As a result, substrate temperature change during the coating processing is suppressed, thereby preventing occurrence of processing ununiformity caused by temperature change, resulting in improved uniformity in coating processing.
Here, the delivery means of the cassette station may deliver the substrate to/from the first coating processing section of the processing station, in which the load on the substrate transfer means is reduced.
Further, it is suitable that the processing station includes a cooling section for cooling the substrate, and the delivery means of the cassette station delivers the substrate to/from the cooling section of the processing station, in which, for example, even in the case where the substrate temperature is adjusted by the substrate being cooled before coating processing, the load on the substrate transfer means is reduced and waste of transfer of the substrate can be eliminated.
The present invention has a configuration comprising: an interface station, connected to the opposite side of the processing station to the cassette station, for delivering the substrate between the processing station and an aligner provided on the opposite side of the processing station to the cassette station, wherein the first coating processing section includes a processing section for forming an anti-reflection film for the substrate, and the second coating processing section includes a processing section for performing developing processing for the substrate which has been exposed in the aligner.
These objects and still other objects and advantages of the present invention will become apparent upon reading the following specification when taken in conjunction with the accompanying drawings.